More Proud Parent Moments

We talk about how at The Little Gym you have the opportunity to feel pride in your child each week.  Well this week, I felt a ton of pride in my son.  My son, Blaise, has been in The Little Gym programs since my wife and I became owners of the gym 4.5 years ago.  Our nanny brought him to classes for the first few years, and he joined the Funny Bugs class by accident when she brought him to the wrong class time.  He was already three but with his temperment, we thought it best to keep him in a parent-participation class for a little longer.  He ended up doing great and we kept him in the Funny Bugs class.

This week was a week of the next transition.  Blaise turned 6 last month, but due to other committments, he couldn't join the grade school "Hot Shots" class until this week.  Like his sister, he was very reluctant to join the "big kid" gymnastics class.  He's probably going to do the all-boys Tuesday class, but this week, he came on Wednesday to the co-ed 4:15pm Flips & Hot Shots class.  And he did great!   He kept up with the other children in class, was beaming as he ran around the gym in the warmup, going all-out.  And the other boys welcomed him into the class. 

I loved it!  As a parent, there is nothing better than that feeling of pride in your child.  It's a very strong emotion.  This week we allowed parents into classses to watch a portion of class.  It was enough, for me, to get a good dose of pride... which translated to ice cream after class for all.  :-)  I hope you were able to get a good dose of pride in your child or children this week!

Happy handstands,
 Teacher Ron

Another fun week coming up... Guppies to Puppies!

Now that Who's Your Hero camp week is over, I'm setting my sights on our Guppies to Puppies week -- the week of August 16 - 20.  During our classes that week, we invite students to bring in a pet to show to their class during the opening circle or closing circle (or lobby if it's a large animal). 

And during our camps, we arrange special guest animal visitors for each day.  In years past, we had visits from a one-legged cat, several snakes, bearded dragons, a pony and a horse.  Plus we've had visitors from several non-profits:

•  Project Pooch -- an organization that has successfully paired youths incarcerated at the MacLaren Youth Correctional Facility in Woodburn, Oregon, with homeless shelter dogs since 1993.
• PAWS - a non-profit cat adoption center in West Linn, Oregon. Their mission is to place as many homeless cats and kittens into loving, caring homes.
• Cat Adoption Team - the Pacific Northwest’s largest nonprofit, limited admission cat shelter.

The cat shelters are always a hit, especially when they bring young kittens and talk about caring for animals.  And we're hoping that Suzi from Project Pooch can make it back again.  She brings one of her dogs and shows some of the things that a highly trained dog can do. 

This year, we will have a visit by some hissing cockroaches. possibly some walking stick bugs; and we'll go next door to Cat Care Professionals and visit some cats staying at their B&B.

We're looking for other pet visitors that week. So if you have a pet you'd like to bring in to show off, we'd love to have you!  Call (503) 595-9702 and talk with Ron for arrangements.

Happy Handstands!

Who's Your Hero Week at The Little Gym - July 12 - 16

Next week is "Who's Your Hero?" week at The Little Gym of Lake Oswego.  This week is always a huge hit for the children who attend camp.  Each day we talk about and pretend to be the various heros of our community -- police, fire fighters, paramedics and more!  On several days we'll actually be visited by some real community heros.  

Last year, paramedics from Metro West Ambulance gave a tour of their ambulance, showing the campers all of the gear they keep and how they use it to keep people safe when they're injured.  One child got hooked up to a heart-rate monitor and another got their arm stabilized with an air-based cast.   This year, will be visited by two different ambulance companies on Monday July, 12th and Tuesday, July 13th.

We also got visits from both the Lake Oswego and Tualatin police last year.  Officers Girardi and Phillips talked about safety and how the police help families in the community.  Of course, the highlight was a tour of their police cars.

But the highlight of the week was when Tualatin Valley Fire & Rescue came for their visit.  Three fire fighters spent quite a bit of time talking about their gear in our lobby, and showed how their infrared detecters are used to find people in smoke-filled rooms, or to find out which areas of a building are hot (on fire and dangerous).  Then they took us outside for a tour of their fire engine, including allowing each camper a turn to shoot water from a live fire hose. 

The police are visiting on Friday next week, with the fire fighters coming on Wednesday the 14th.  Since each crew will be "on call," if an emergency arises, they may be called away.  But hopefully, we'll have some super-fun visits with our local heros.

Space is available in camp for every day next week.  Call us at (503) 595-9702 to reserve your spaces for your potty-independent 3-8 year olds before they're full!